While the Public defenders office, and Tommy Thompson’s daughter Kelli(who had a hand in the hiring), tried to pretend there was no cronyism involved, Chris Rickert came up with a scoop today that proved beyond any doubt that this job is strictly meant to keep Ms. Archer quiet while Scott Walker pursues his next job.

Worth noting is that former Walker inner-circle member and longtime government bureaucrat Cindy Archer’s new gig is helping to save the state money.

Transferring from administrative services director in the State Public Defender’s Office to the office’s chief information officer came with an 11.7 percent raise, or 31 percent more than what the old IT director made.

But because Archer’s old position is remaining vacant for now, SPD spokesman Randy Kraft said, “the agency will realize salary savings.”

Cindy Archer was so valuable of an employee, performing such important duties at her $101,121/yr job, that her previous job will now go unfilled.